Yes Virginia, Dunvegan will be celebrating Halloween this year. Not surprisingly, the annual community party at the DRA Hall is verboten, thanks to Covid-19 concerns. However, the Dunvegan Recreation Association and the Glengarry Pioneer Museum are teaming up to bring you an innovative replacement: a “spooktacular” Halloween scavenger hunt for the entire family. The free event will be held October 31st from noon to 4:00 pm on the grounds of the Dunvegan museum, and will meet all the pandemic abatement requirements of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU).
The scavenger hunt has been organized by Anne Forrester-Bertrand and Mona Andre of the DRA and Jennifer Black from the GPM. Here’s how it will work. Word clues will be hidden in five locations around the museum site. These clues will be aimed at youngsters three to seven years old, with the expectation that parents will help younger kids who can’t yet read. Each family group will, within the time allotted, have to find all five clues… use the words to make a sentence… and report back to the Scavenger Hunt officials in the outdoor Pavilion. If the “sentence” they’ve composed is correct, they’ll be able to claim their Halloween loot bags.
Because of Covid-19, families must register in advance and participate as a group. The EOHU has requested that only people residing in the same household be considered a group. This would be one or two parents and their children. There is no maximum on the number of offspring, but they must be accompanied by at least one adult.
To book your time slot, call 613-525-9664 or 343-987-7151. By the way, don’t be put off by that “343” area code. Apparently, our little corner of Ontario has run out of “613” numbers and the Telcos have had to add a new three-digit code. If you’d prefer to email, you can register your interest in participating by contacting annefb@me.com or mona.andre@hotmail.com. For more details, visit the Dunvegan Recreation Association’s Facebook page.
Anne, Mona and Jennifer are to be congratulated for putting together this community event and carrying on the Dunvegan Halloween tradition the DRA started over three decades ago. Thank you.
Donate “loot” here
In recent years, Mona Andre has kindly volunteered her time and her front porch as a drop-off spot for our community’s Halloween candy drive. And she has once again agreed to help again this year… and produced a big new sign inviting folks to contribute. The candy, chips and other individually-wrapped goodies will be used to make up the free loot bags that participating children will take home when they go on this year’s Halloween Scavenger Hunt.
Dunvegan’s Halloween tradition started back in the 1980s. Dunveganites with young families on the outskirts of the hamlet found that ‘Trick or Treaters’ never came to their door. So they helped the DRA organize a community Halloween party and contributed their candy to this centralized celebration instead. My concern is that, because of Covid-19, people will assume Halloween has been cancelled and donations of candy will slow to a trickle. Please don’t let this happen. The DRA still needs your help. Please drop off donations at Monica Andre’s place: the grey house with white trim on northeast corner of the Dunvegan crossroads.
Compared to Christmas…
Of late, the Interverse has been awash with suggestions that, as a holiday, Halloween is almost as big as Christmas. Maybe even bigger. It certainly feels this way when you look at how some neighbourhoods are awash in ghoulish decorations. Or listen to our granddaughter Maya’s grandiose plans for her family’s annual Halloween bash.
As these declarations had a “the science is settled” feel about them, I decided to look a bit deeper. And, lo and behold, I discovered that All Hallows’ Eve doesn’t even hold a jack-o’-lantern candle to the days of Yule. I have yet to find comparative Canadian retail statistics. However, if our neighbours to the south are any guide, the National Retail Federation reported that Christmas holiday spending in 2012 was almost one hundred times greater than Halloween retail purchases in 2013: $602.1 billion USD versus $6.9 billion USD. In fact, in the US, Halloween doesn’t even make the Top Five Holidays: Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Father’s Day. While there’s probably no Canadian equivalent (the Grey Cup doesn’t count), Americans even spent almost twice in 2012 as much on Superbowl parties — $12.3 billion USD — as they did on Halloween.
Remembering a remarkable teacher
My abject apologies, and sincere condolences, to the Hartrick family on the death of Annabelle Hartrick on September 19th in the Maxville Manor, just a week after her 99thbirthday. I must admit that I was only alerted to Mrs. Hartrick’s death this past weekend in an email from Ken McEwen in Ottawa. He had come across a ‘Card of Thanks’ in the News that I had missed and asked if I had any more details. This sent me to the Munro & Morris web site where I read the sad news. So much for my jungle telegraph connection.
Annabelle was born in Baltic’s Corners, the eldest daughter of Hugh John MacLennan and Jessie Macdonald. After teaching locally for a number of years, she joined her beloved husband of 59 years, Danny John Hartrick, on the family farm on Stewart’s Glen Road. Despite her diminutive stature, Annabelle was a force to be reckoned with: nurturing to her family… loyal to her many friends… and devoted to the Kenyon Presbyterian Church in Dunvegan where she served in many capacities over the years.
I’m not sure for how long Annabelle taught, or in which schools. But I have it on good authority that she was an excellent teacher. In 1945/46, she was Ken McEwen’s grade eight instructor at S.S. #4 Kenyon, St. Elmo East, located on the southeast corner of Lot 33, Conc. 8, Kenyon. The school was closed in 1966 and is no longer standing. It must have been a fairly impressive one though, as it was built in 1858 of brick. No doubt from Donald Sinclair’s brickyard, just down the road.
Back in the day, Annabelle’s parent’s home was located three or four farms west of County Road 30. While the entrance was from Concession Road 7, the farmhouse was in the middle of the 100-acre property and the family had a laneway to Concession Road 8 through the bush. A horse and buggy, or sleigh, could navigate the laneway, but not a car. Ken remembers well that Annabelle walked this lane daily, then turned west via the Three Bridges to SS #4. “It was a respectable hike,” Ken told me. “I recall, on really cold winter days, her Dad, Hugh John, drove her to teaching duties.” He went on to say that, under her tutelage, his high school entrance exams were a breeze. “She was the last survivor of my primary school teachers,” Ken wrote me in an email. “The end of an era.” One more chapter in Dunvegan’s history is done. Farewell to a memorable lady.
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